Gary L. Stewart • Susan Mustafa

My Search

In this section, I will post letters, journal entries, and excerpts from the book in an effort to provide as many details as I can about my investigation into my father’s life.

In 2002, when I first began my search to find the man who abandoned me in a stairwell in downtown Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in March1963, I was armed only with my biological father’s name, date and place of birth, and his social security number, which were given to me by Sgt. Harold Butler of the San Francisco Police Department. The first step I took was to look for any Earl Van Best, Jr., Earl Van Best, or Gertrude Plummer listed anywhere in the United States. That search included The White Pages, Rootsweb, Ancestry.com, Familysearch.com, and involved a visit or two to the local Mormon Church. All of these efforts proved helpful in some way.

[weaver_hide_if_mobile][/weaver_hide_if_mobile]Once I learned the addresses of people with those names, I began writing letters, explaining what I knew at the time about my adoption and my parents. Most of this information was what my biological mother, Judy, had related to me, and, as indicated in The Most Dangerous Animal of All, much of it was inaccurate. This includes my mother’s story about me being turned into a church in Baton Rouge and the spelling of her first name in different ways at different times—Judith, Judy, Judi, and Jude. To avoid confusion, we chose to use only “Judy” in the book. It also includes mistakes in the spelling of my birth name and mistakes made either by the hospital, police department, or Welfare Department. There may also be discrepancies in the letters and journal entries regarding what I perceived to be the truth back then, (keep in mind, this was an ongoing process of learning and trying to put the pieces together) including dialogue and the final disposition of my father’s relationship with his best friend, William, as at the time of the writing of the letters, he was still alive and still conveying those stories to me.

I hope this will not be confusing, but I felt it was important to include these letters and journal entries to give you an idea of the scope of my investigation over a period of 12 years to learn the truth.

Comments

‘PLEASE NOTE:Due to the tremendous volume of comments and email we are receiving, there may be a delay in posting answers to questions. Thank you so much for your patience and your interest in The Most Dangerous Animal of All.

Comments

My Search — 15 Comments

Thank you for you comments, and I’m so glad you enjoyed the book! You are absolutely right. Unfortunately, the case has gotten so old and each
decade goes by, the reporters are farther displaced in time from the actual days of the terror the Zodiac caused. The San Francisco Chronicle has always maintained a reporter on the Zodiac beat. Beginning with Paul Avery, then Duffy Jennings, and now Kevin Fagan. Paul Avery was a ‘rock star’ when it came to journalism in general, including the ‘Ice Cream Romance’ saga, and the Zodiac Killer case. He worked every lead with and actually tried to solve the case. I wish that Paul Avery were alive today. I believe that if he saw the information I’ve presented, he would
instantly recognize his ‘Secret Pal,’ and get his Dick Tracy watch on and dig in with the authorities to close the case. That’s just not the case anymore. I did reach out to the last two Zodiac Beat reporters, Duffy Jennings, who graciously referred me to Kevin Fagan. I contacted Kevin Fagan years ago and we spoke on the phone. Within two minutes, he basically brushed me off stating that, “If I look at every piece of evidence presented to me in this case, I couldn’t do my job as a reporter.” He didn’t ask for specifics. He told me that if I could see the boxes and boxes of evidence against other suspects in the Zodiac case, I would probably “‘brush me off too.” I don’t believe Paul Avery would have done that, or Duffy Jenkins for that matter. My case merits investigation, and if the police won’t investigate it, I had hoped a Chronicle reporter would. Unfortunately, that is not the case, and is, I think, indicative of a lack of interest in uncovering the truth. Thanks again for your question!

I did notice the E V ‘signature symbol’ on the Avery Card. I don’t believe it’s any sort of coincidence at all. I believe my father intentionally put his initials there. After all, whether it was communication with Avery, or the newspapers, the Zodiac always insisted he was ‘name dropping’… no one ever took him seriously in law enforcement … so until now, he has remained unidentified.

Hello Gary,
I just wanted to share a strange thought with you. Do you know the show called “My Name is Earl”? Well if you do not I think you should at least check it out. Why? Well there is a strange connection between it and the Zodiac case especially if we assume that your father is guilty.
1. The show takes place in southern California just like the Zodiac murders did.
2. The main characters name is Earl and judgeing from his accent he seems to come from the south like Van.
3. He had a wife that divorced him and married a black man which fits your fathers life neatly.

And now to the more creepy part.

4. The name of the show is my “My Name is Earl” which resembles the Zodiacs famous line “My Name is…”.

5. Earl (the main character) has also got a LITTLE LIST of people. The people on the listare people he has been bad to in the past.

Allthough I am pretty much convinced that this is a coincidence, I at least had to ventilate this thought. If nothing else it might amuse you a bit.

Thank you for your kind words. I have engaged the help of the new Cold Case Inspector in the SFPD, and have again submitted my DNA for his investigation. I have reached out to Napa and Vallejo, and both of those organizations have chosen to walk away from the Zodiac investigation. Going back to the active days of the Zodiac, those who remain, Graysmith, Toschi…have absolutely nothing to gain, and everything to lose, should they come forward and endorse my discovery. They both spent their entire careers, their lives (at costs we will never fathom), their celebrity credibility…claiming erroneously that Arthur Leigh Allen was the Zodiac killer. They got it wrong! I wouldn’t show up to a press conference either if some abandoned son of the real Zodiac killer solved a case in two years, that I’d spent my life trying to solve. I wish things were different. I’d personally love to meet both of them.

Gary,
I just finished reading your book, and found it extremely well written and as a result I’m so interested in how the story is and will play out. Are there any updates? Thank you for sharing your story.